looking for the best cd transport only, without dac

I would recommend an Esoteric DV50S for $1,300.

Very high build quality and a terrific performer.

It is a bit overkill as a transport, but it will perform very nicely.

CD transport itself doesn’t have sound signature however there are very important things that determining how good the CD transport is : level of jitter, the quality of the laser lens, inner cabling , inner clock,the mechanical drive and so on ,so evantually the CD transport can degrade or improve the sound it depends on the quality of the transport  .I do agree that it is very important component at our system and we can’t cut corners here.

I find the discussion and experience of differences in the sound of hifi components fascinating. I know there is a passionate group who feel that DAC's and transports and even amps and cords don't make much of a difference in sound quality as long as they are solidly made. I've come around to realizing for me that speakers are where I put the majority of my investment and notice the most difference in sound. Yet I also experience some differences in other audio components including speaker wire. Maybe this is placebo or inadequate level matching? All that to say that I can imagine there may be some sound quality difference in a cd transport and it's related lens and clock etc. I think I'm wanting to find the sweet spot where I'm not wasting funds chasing some small negligible sound improvement. For me that Hegel and Harbeth SHL5+ both hit this mark. My goal is to now find the commensurate cd transport. The Esoteric and a few others I find a bit bulky, aesthetics are also part of the sweet spot equation for me. So far the CXC and PWT seem the two that are potentials.  

Hi Itzhak,
You are itemizing the the different factors in CD transports which I understand. Essentially we're making the same salient point. Transports very effectively impact sonic quality and character of an audio system. For better or for worse.

It would seem to me that the transport *shouldn't* matter because the myriads of high end dacs out there do their own jitter correction and clock management. I think they apply that functionality regardless of how "clean" the data is to begin with.

That said, does someone now mean to report as fact or imply as probable that certain transports may not send *all* of the data? That would be a different story and if true would mean that the transport matters.